The government updates numbers all the time, but here’s a tally worth mulling. For the first time, the government has sorted out how many federal employees are regular telecommuters: 119, 248. That’s 6.6 per cent of the federal work force, according to a report recently sent to Congress by the Office of Personnel Management.

Congress has supported the idea of allowing government employees to work from home to ease rush-hour congestion and give a way for agencies to continue basic operations in the event of a catastrophe, such as pandemic flu.

This year’s run-up in gasoline prices has prompted a new round of interest in at-home work programmes, which were outlined at a Senate sub-committee hearing last week. Telecommuting two days a week would save the average full-time federal employee about $55 per month, according to testimony by the Telework Exchange, a group that has urged the government to expand telecommuting options for government employees. The OPM’s new report to Congress shows that a number of agencies have made progress in setting up telecommuting programmes. But the report stressed that “There is still work to be done to fully integrate telework into the culture and business practices.” Of the 119,248 employees counted as telecommuters in 2005, 25 per cent worked from home at least three days a week, 35 per cent telecommuted one or two days a week, and the rest telecommuted at least once a month.

The Defense Department, reported that it had 34,007 telecommuters in 2005. Of those, 3,490 telecommuted at least 3 days a week and 3,945 telecommuted one or two days a week, with the rest teleworking less but at least once a month. Other agencies with large numbers of telecommuters included commerce, interior and treasury.
The OPM said most telecommuters held jobs in the higher pay grades, mostly General Schedule 12 through 14.

About 30 per cent of federal employees have been deemed ineligible to participate in telework programs because their jobs require them to be in the office. Other employees are ineligible asthey handle sensitive information. Agencies told the OPM that they had denied telecommuting to some employees because of poor job performance.
Pros and cons
In addition to office staffing requirements, agencies said growth in telecommuting would be slowed by “Organisational culture,” management resistance and computer security issues. Only 27 agencies said they had made plans to use telecommuting as an option for dealing with emergencies, suggesting that many agencies are still considering how best to use at-home workers to keep their operations going if offices have to be closed. 
Some data suggested that agencies may not be prepared to justify their telecommuting programmes. A majority of the agencies in the survey, 44, said they did not track or did not know what they gained by allowing employees to work from home. But several agencies said they found that telework improved recruitment, productivity and morale. Several agencies said telecommuting was holding down transportation and real estate costs.
LA Times-Washington Post